To be admitted into the Department of English and Communication’s Honors Program, a student must:
Be currently enrolled as a SUNY Potsdam student with one of the following majors/concentrations: Communication; Literature; Literature/Writing; Professional Writing; Creative Writing; B.F.A. in Creative Writing.
Have completed at least 60 hours but not more than 90 hours toward the B.A.
Have at least two semesters remaining before graduation.
Have completed at least 15 hours in the major (at least 9 of these hours must be Upper Division and at least 6 must be at SUNY Potsdam).
Have an overall GPA of at least 3.25.
Have a GPA of at least 3.5 in the major.
Recommended procedure
Student is invited and accepts (or applies and is accepted—see below).
Student, in consultation with the chair, selects an Honors Adviser (may or may not be the student's academic adviser).
The student develops an Honors Thesis Proposal in consultation with the Honors' Adviser. The proposal should ideally be completed during the junior year so a significant portion of the senior year can be devoted to the thesis.
The student will enroll in a 3-credit tutorial called “Honors Thesis” with his/her Honors' Adviser as the instructor.
Once complete, the thesis must be approved by the Honors’ Adviser and the student must present her/his work at a department honors colloquium.
The chair will work with library faculty to assign a librarian as mentor to each of the honors students.
Requirements to Graduate with Honors
Complete two 500-level courses in the English/Communication Department, selected in consultation with the student’s Honors Adviser.
Write an Honors Thesis (25-50 pages).
Enroll in a 3-credit tutorial called “Honors Thesis” with his/her Honors' Adviser as the instructor.
Present the Honors Thesis at a Departmental Honors Colloquium.
Graduate with a GPA of at least 3.5 in the major.
Notes:
Students who are eligible will be invited by the department chair to apply.
If a student's GPA or number of credits varies slightly from the requirements above, a student may submit a letter of recommendation from a faculty member and an application to the department chair.
The departmental honors committee will host an honors colloquium each May and December as needed.
Departmental Honors Theses
Brenna Link. "The Rhetoric of Villains in Spartacus: Blood and Sand." 2010.
Henric Nielsen. "A Swedish Tiger." 2010.
Chelsea Summers. "School Shootings in Contemporary Film and Fiction: A Study in Media Mythologies." 2010.
Kathryn Goloski. "The Pursuit of Nihilism in Herman Melville's Late Fiction." 2008.
Rebecca Jewell. "Local Women of Suffrage." 2008.
Emily Lazovik. "The Medical Connotations of Female Villainy in Gothic Literature." 2008.
Matthew Short. "Reading Italo Calvino." 2008.
Kelly Currier. "William Blake and Childhood in the Romantic Period." 2006.
